Army Big Guns Shoot For Better Marksmanship

March 25, 1990|By CHARLES H. BOGINO Staff Writer

FORT MONROE — The Army wants to make its infantrymen better shots than its clerks, cooks and truck drivers.

A team of Army planners at Fort Benning, Ga., is under orders by the service's top training officer to study ways to change the marksmanship qualification tests for its foot soldiers and their primary weapon, the M-16 rifle.

Instead of having to meet the same standards as other soldiers, the team has been told to try to make marksmanship tests in the infantry more realistic, requiring infantrymen to use techniques they might need on a battlefield instead of a gun range.

If the change in the marksmanship test for the infantry is made, it would be the first major change in the way marksmanship testing is done in the Army since the late 1960s, when the M-16 rifle was introduced on training posts, Army officials say.

"What we have now is one standard for the whole Army - the same in the front as in the rear," said Gen. John W. Foss, head of the Army's Training and Doctrine Command. "It's all the same, and that is not what you need for combat infantrymen."

As the Army's top training officer, Foss said he would like to toughen the shooting requirements for infantrymen.

While Army clerks, cooks and other support soldiers are given marksmanship training and told of the importance of being good shots, the need for infantrymen to hit the target every time is paramount to what they do.

"Every infantryman should be an expert on the rifle," said Col. Anthony Caggiano, a member of Foss' staff and an infantry officer who was a platoon leader in Vietnam. "A truck driver in a convoy may or may not have the opportunity to fire his or her weapon. However, it's a certainty that an infantryman in a combat environment will fire his weapon."

The team of soldiers at Fort Benning are from the 2nd Battalion of the 29th Infantry Regiment. Fort Benning is the home of the Army Infantry School.

Since January, they have been trying out variations of the current testing standards, Fort Benning spokesmen said. The spokesmen were unwilling to discuss specifics about the testing. Upon completion of tests in June, the Infantry School should have a better idea of what changes might be made, they said.

Currently, all soldiers are tested under the same conditions. According to the Army Field Manual 23-9, which covers range fire, soldiers are given 40 bullets and must hit at least 23 of the targets to become qualified on the M-16 rifle.

The targets range from 50 meters to 300 meters away from the marksman. The manual says that half the rounds should be shot while the rifle is rested on some kind of support, such as a sandbag. The other 20 rounds are fired while the rifle is supported only by the soldier's arms.

There are three levels of qualification, according to the manual. Soldiers qualify as experts if they hit at least 36 of the targets, sharpshooters if they hit between 30 and 35 of them. Soldiers hitting up to 29 targets are awarded a marksman's badge.

The targets are silhouettes of various heights that pop up just before the soldier is to fire, and go down when struck.

In the late 1960s, the pop-up target ranges replaced the ranges with fixed targets at a known distance, which had been in use since World War I. On a known-distance range, the size of the bull's eye printed on the target varied to simulate distances.

Some training command officers say Foss has had an interest in improving the standards for infantrymen's shooting since 1985, when he was commandant of the infantry school.

Foss said earlier this year that he now wants to put infantrymen through a marksmanship test that would reflect the kinds of situations they might see on a battlefield.

Infantrymen firing at moving targets, while using night-vision goggles, or with a squad of other foot soldiers, are some of the possible changes being studied for a new qualification testing program, Foss said.

Another possibility being checked out at the school is increasing the far target's distance from 300 to 450 meters.

Meanwhile, the Army recently made rifle qualification mandatory at non-commissioned officers schools. The mid-career training courses for sergeants are designed to help them teach marksmanship to junior soldiers in all job fields.

The sergeants are required to meet qualification standards with the rifle because "if you can't do it, you can't teach it," said Maj. Bob Hickok, a member of the enlisted training division at the Fort Monroe training command's headquarters.

Foss said he hopes these tougher standards for noncommissioned officers and the possibility for more rigorous infantry testing with the rifle will provide the Army better marksmen across the board. It's an area, Foss admitted, that has fallen behind the toughened standards in other areas, such as physical fitness.

"We have not given our fair share of time to marksmanship in units," he said.